 "Madhya Pradesh farmers' strike: Warrant issued against Congress MLA Shakuntala Khatik for inciting violence")
Shivpuri: A court in Shivpuri has issued an arrest warrant against Congress MLA Shakuntala Khatik for allegedly inciting protesters to burn down a local police station during the farmers’ agitation in Madhya Pradesh. Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sharad Litoria issued the warrants against Khatik and one of her party colleagues after the dismissal of their anticipatory bail pleas in the case. ACJM Litoria issued the warrants against Khatik and block Congress president Venus Goyal on Wednesday, Karera police station in-charge Sanjeev Tiwari said on Thursday. Karera police in Shivpuri district had registered a case against the woman MLA and some others after a video, which purportedly showed the legislator instigating her supporters to torch a police station on 8 June, went viral. The video was shot when Khatik was leading a protest near Karera police station against the killing of farmers in police firing in Mandsaur district earlier this month during a violent farmers’ stir.
During the protest, police had tried to douse a burning effigy of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, drenching Khatik in the process. The MLA had then held a dharna outside the police station. The video showed her asking her supporters to set the police station on fire. The police registered a case against her and others for allegedly committing various penal offences including those of rioting and assault or using criminal force to deter a public servant from discharging his duty. Since then the Congress MLA and others involved in the case have been absconding.
